You Know Where To Find Me
by Animegirl1129
Summary: Greg comforts Nick after the whole NIgel Crane incident. Spoilers for Stalker. Duh. Hope you enjoy!


**-You Know Where To Find Me-**

**Okay, I know I haven't posted anything in a while. I've been busy with finals. I finished my first year of college. Whoot! Anyways, Nick and Greg sadly do not belong to me. Nor does CSI. And, if I haven't stated the obvious enough here, the song isn't mine either. That belongs to Matthew West. Okey...I think that's everything. I Hope You Enjoy! R&R Please!!!**

* * *

The subtle knocking on the front door of his condo roused him from his restless sleep. "Coming!" He called, shoving his Golden Retriever, Dax, off of his legs enough to maneuver them out from under the covers. He ran a hand through his scraggly hair, heading towards whatever brave soul had dared wake him from his well deserved rest. He flung the door open, though this was not the safest thing to do, but he was beyond caring at this point, and came face to face with Nick. 

Taking in the boxer and t-shirt clad figure before him, Nick was silent for almost a minute before finally speaking. "Greggo. I'm sorry; I didn't mean to wake you… I should go." The Texan started, taking a step back.

Automatically, the younger mans hand shot out to stop him, grabbing his good arm; Greg pulled him inside, shutting the door behind him, joining his co-worker on the burgundy couch situated in the middle of the room. "No, Nicky, it's no problem. What's wrong?"

Nick shifted subconsciously, seemingly uncomfortable in his own skin. "It's… I… Argh, I can't sleep." His eyes were focused on the carpet under his feet, refusing to look up. "It's stupid. I'm sorry I bothered you." He moved to escape once again.

But Greg was faster, a reassuring hand on his friend's knee. "Nick, it's not stupid. After what you've been through… I wouldn't be able to sleep either."

"It -is- stupid. I'm a grown man. He's gone. There's nothing to worry about anymore."

"Nicky, some psycho was hiding out in your attic. That's terrifying. To anyone." The younger seriously hoped he wasn't pushing anything here. The last thing he wanted was for Nick to leave when he was like this. He didn't know what had really set Nick off, but he was crying now. Not obviously, you really had to look at him to tell. Silently, Greg shifted closer, slowly wrapping an arm around the broken man beside him. "It's okay… He's gone. He can't hurt you anymore."

**I saw your sky fall down today**

**Suddenly turn from blue to grey**

**Till one by one the raindrops**

**Turned to tears upon your face**

**Wish the was something I could do**

**Wish I could ease the pain from you**

**But I've never felt so helpless**

**It's like your drowning right in front of me**

**And I'm reaching out but you can't see**

**There's something holding onto you so tight**

**So I guess this is all I'll say to you tonight**

"I know that. I know." Nick coughed, head resting on Greg's shoulder, holding tight to his friend. "I know that he's in jail, and that he's away from me, but, Greg, he was in my home. He watched me sleep. Watched me do God knows what else. He was in my email, on my phone, everywhere. He stole my clothes. All because I talked to some guy installing my cable!"

Being in the lab, Greg had not been privy to the majority of this information. Knowing that that bastard had shoved himself so arrogantly into Nick's life without him even knowing it made him sick to his stomach. Instead of acting on that impulse, however, he settled for rubbing soothing circles on Nick's back, careful to avoid the two bruised ribs he'd received in his fall.

"But… my apartment just feels… weird, like I don't belong there anymore, like he just destroyed everything."

"Stay with me." Greg suggested, though it came out more as an order than a suggestion.

"No, I couldn't…" The Texan was still holding onto the slighter man, relaxed for the first time since the whole incident began. "I have to go." He pried himself away from his friend, making a break for the door.

"My offer stands." Greg's voice halted him momentarily. "You know where to find me if you change your mind."

"Thanks, Greggo."

**If you ever need me**

**You know where to find me**

**I will be waiting **

**Where I've always been**

**If you ever need me**

**You know where to find me**

**I have never left you**

**I'm where I've always been**

**Right by your side**

**I'm right by your side**

Once Nick was gone, Greg found himself unable to go back to sleep. For several reasons. One, Dax, the spoiled rotten dog, had stolen his spot, head on the pillow, had even managed to get under the covers somehow. So, he returned to his spot on the couch, flopping out across it. Even if he had his bed, he still wouldn't have been able to sleep. Not with Nicky weighing on his mind.

"I shouldn't have let him leave…" He scolded himself. "He shouldn't be alone right now…"

"Rrrrr…. Woof." Dax yipped, having relinquished his spot on the bed in favor of staring at his owner, undoubtedly a sign that the dog wanted out. The noise startled him out of his thoughts and, after getting his heart rate to return to normal he let the golden retriever out, leaning against the door frame in the afternoon sun.

"Please let him be okay…" Greg stared up at the setting sun, the moment of bliss ruined by the ring of his cell phone, blasting 'If I Only Had A Brain'.

Grissom was calling him in early. Great.

**If the whole wide world is on your back**

**If the strength you need is the strength you lack**

**If you're in a crowd but all alone**

**If you can't stay here, but you can't go home**

**If you can't answer all the whys**

**Cause you're too tired to reach that high**

**I want you to remember…**

Just hours later, halfway through his extended shift, he was swamped, and it was if everyone had forgotten that one of their own had been through hell only yesterday. With the exception of the insane rumors flying amongst the other lab-rats, no one mentioned Nick or Nigel Crane. Greg couldn't decide whether or not that was a good thing.

He was busy with samples from just about everyone. Grissom's hotel room burglary. Sara and Warrick's double murder case at a casino. Catherine's child abuse case. Not to mention the never ending backlog from days. He seriously wondered if the day-shift DNA tech ever processed anything.

Manson's cover of the David Bowie song 'Golden Years' was emanating from the speakers of his stereo, and the cold coffee he'd been sipping at for the last hour and a half did little to soothe him.

He heard a knock on the door to the lab. "None of the samples are done yet. Just as they were not five minutes ago, Sara. Try back later." He replied, eyes focusing on the pipette and chemicals in front of him.

"Alright." The Texan accent told him Sara wasn't pestering him again, and his head shot up to see Nick's retreating form in the doorway.

"Nick! Wait." He sent the prepared sample into the mass spec, pulled off the latex gloves and rushed out of the room after his friend. "You're not supposed to be here yet. You should be resting… Your ribs are fractured. You need to take it easy."

"Greggo. Can we talk?"

The younger man nodded, carefully pulling Nick into the abandoned break room. "You okay?"

"No, not really." The elder shrugged, the first honest answer he'd given to that question, sinking down into the old lumpy couch that inhabited their break room. The man was obviously in pain; Greg didn't have to be a CSI to notice the cringing and wincing when his ribs or wrist bent awkwardly.

"You really should be resting."

"Where? My apartment's cleared, but it still feels like a crime scene. Still feels like he's there." It surprised him that quirky lab-rat, Greg Sanders was the one he was telling all of this to, but no one else seemed to want to listen to him. Warrick had offered him a spare bed, but he found he couldn't sleep there either.

"Nicky…"

"I wanted to know if your offer still stood. Because I'd really like to take you up on it." The Texan smiled softly.

Greg nodded. "Of course it does."

Nick looked visibly relaxed by this news, the tenseness falling away from his shoulders as he slumped further back into the couch. "Thanks, G. It means a lot."

"I still have a few hours to go here, so, if you want you can wait here or you can go get some things from your place and I'll pick you up once I'm off." The younger suggested, before he remembered something. "You have a dog, right?"

"Yeah, but he can stay with my neighbor for a while if he won't get along with yours…"

"No, no, no, don't do that. Dax needs a buddy. Bring him."

Nick smiled again. "I'll meet you at my place later, then. You know where it is, right?" When Greg nodded, he stood, thanking the man again before heading back to his apartment. What was left of it, anyway.

**If you ever need me**

**You know where to find me**

**I will be waiting **

**Where I've always been**

**If you ever need me**

**You know where to find me**

**I have never left you**

**I'm where I've always been**

**Right by your side**

**I'm right by your side**

"Alright, I'm gonna put Dax on a leash so no one gets killed when they meet, okay. Just give me one minute." Greg slipped into his condo, dropping Nick's bags on the couch before catching his dog. "Okay, bring him in!"

The Texan stepped in, his yellow lab, Maverick on a leash as well, hoping like hell that neither dog went insane and made him move more than necessary.

However, when the two canines came face to face, he found his worries were unfounded. The two sniffed each other and Dax barked playfully, wiggling his whole body before bowing to the other dog, ready to play.

"That was too easy." Greg stared at his possibly alien abducted dog. "Who are you and what have you done with my Dax, you imposter? He's usually really territorial. I've pulled him off delivery people before."

"Wow… That's very reassuring. I'll just be glad that he was too distracted by Maverick to notice me." Nick again let a small smile slip through.

"Don't worry. I won't let him hurt you." Greg assured him, grabbing Nick's bags once again and signaling for the older man to follow. He went up three stairs and stopped at the door beside them on the left. "That's the bathroom. My rooms right next to that." He moved around a corner, until he reached the last door to his left. "Here's your room. It's kinda boring. Haven't really gotten around to decorating it yet…"

They walked into the room; Greg flipped on the lights and set the bags down on the bed. The walls were a soft red color, a nice contrast to the blue walls of his apartment. "No, it's great."

Greg smiled at the compliment, though he disagreed. "So, are you gonna get some sleep or do you want something to eat, or…?"

"You have to be tired…"

"Not really. I sleep before work, not when I get home. So, I'm good for a while." The younger shrugged.

Nick gestured toward the door. "Then, let's chill out for a while."

_**If the whole wide world is on your back  
**_

If you're in a crowd but all alone

If you can't stay here but you can't go home

If you can't answer all the whys

Cause you're too tired to reach that high

I want you to

The two men once again sat on Greg's couch, watching some college buddy movie that Greg claimed was awesome, if a little weird. So, as they relaxed in the morning light filtering in through the blinds, eating leftover shrimp Creole and watching Dead Man On Campus, Nick almost forgot the cause of why he was here.

At least until the two main characters Cooper and Josh started fighting over something,

He wasn't sure what, as they'd downgraded him from Vicodin to oxycodone which knocked him out every once in a while. But they were pressed against each other, chest to chest, like he had been with Nigel when they were fighting over the gun. And that made him remember. He stared blankly at the screen as the memory flashed through his mind.

"Nick?" He could here Greg trying to get his attention, but it wasn't working. "Nicky! What's wrong?" The younger mans hands were on his shoulders, shaking him frantically.

"Turn it off. Turn it off, now!" He demanded, shoving Greg to escape the hold, feeling trapped, still stuck in his apartment. Greg quickly did so, keeping some space between them this time.

"Nicky, tell me. Tell me what's wrong…" He begged, terrified for the other man. "Was it the movie, did it make you remember something?" The silence was all he needed for an answer. "God, Nicky. I… God, I'm sorry. I didn't know. I'm so sorry. I… I didn't mean… Fuck."

"Fighting over the gun… like they were." Nick finally looked at him, as if he were just realizing that he wasn't alone in the room. "Greggo…"

The younger ran a hand through disheveled hair, pacing in front of him. "I'm sorry… I didn't know…" He fell back onto the couch, as far away from Nick as he could get and still be sitting on the same piece of furniture.

Nick shook his head. "No, no, it's… it's not your fault." He inhaled as deeply as he dared with his ribs in pain, calming down again.

"Come on, I think we should go try to sleep now." Greg suggested, ashamed of himself for his mistake.

He led Nick to his room again, making sure he was squared away before turning to leave. "If you need anything, you know where to find me." He called back as he walked away.

With that, he made it back to his room, staring for a moment at the two dogs snuggled together on Dax's dog-bed, before falling into his own.

"Stupid. So stupid. You couldn't even keep his mind off of it for a few hours. And you expect him to love you back." He cursed himself, crying facedown in his pillow until he fell asleep.

**If you ever need me**

**You know where to find me**

**I will be waiting **

**Where I've always been**

**If you ever need me**

**You know where to find me**

**I have never left you**

**I'm where I've always been**

**Right by your side**

**I'm right by your side**

As he slept through his recurring Nick-rejection dream, he felt the bed shift beside him, dipping with the weight of another person. Figuring it was just Dax or Maverick, he ignored it.

Then something flopped over his right leg on the bed. "Dax. I cannot buy anything bigger than a king size bed. I'm very sorry about this. Do not think I will continue to sleep on the couch to ensure your comfort, like I did last night. Look at videos of dogs sleeping! They can actually curl up in a ball. It is not necessary to sleep stretched out to the fullest extent possible. I also know that sticking tails straight out and having tongues hanging out the other end to maximize space used is nothing but sarcasm. So, please, Dax. Get off."

The majority of his rant was lost in the pillow his head was still buried in, but he still hoped the intruder would move. However, Dax lacked opposable thumbs, thus he could not be the one whose hand was running along his face.

"Nicky?"

"Yeah?"

Greg snuggled closer to the warm body beside him praying that he wasn't reading this wrong. Though, Nick crawling into his bed and touching him really only had so many translations… "Can I kiss you?"

He felt the nod against his shoulder, finally daring to open his eyes. Waking up with his arms around Nick was most definitely something he could get used to. He pressed his lips to the older mans, hands coming up to tangle in Nick's black hair, careful to avoid the stitches on the wound on his forehead.

When they finally had to separate for air, which was much sooner than anticipated because of Nick's sore ribs, Greg shifted closer, folding his lover into his arms.

"You'll stay with me, right?"

"Mm. Do I get to hold you like this?" Greg smiled, tracing random patterns on the skin Nick's ridden up shirt exposed.

"The only time I ever feel normal again, like he can't get me, is when you're holding me." The Texan confessed and Greg could tell that was hard for him to admit.

"Then I guess I can't ever let go of you, can I?" Greg's eyes found the elders. "I guess it's a good thing I love you so much, then, too?"

Nick's 1000-watt smile emerged, leaning forward to kiss Greg again. "Very, very good thing." He whispered.

"Mmhmm." Greg managed to wriggle even closer to the older man. "Now, go to sleep, okay? I'm not letting go. I promise."

"Yeah, I know." Nick's good hand gripped one of Greg's securely, the slighter man holding him tight.

"You know where to find me if you need anything."

"Yeah, right beside me, where you've always been." Nick replied; sleep -finally- over taking him after days and hours of interrupted rest.


End file.
